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Canadian Egg Rolls for Chinese New Year

When it comes to things that I miss from home, egg rolls rank right up there with my beloved Becel margarine! I think egg rolls are like bbq; everyone has their own version! I have yet to find Chinese food in San Antonio that I love as much as I love Chinese food from the east coast of Canada. The egg rolls I grew up with are mostly meat, and they even have a different shape. In a moment of quiet desperation I called my dad, and told him how much I missed the egg rolls. If you’ve ever met my dad, what happened next will come as no surprise to you. He went down to our favorite local Chinese restaurant and asked how they make their egg rolls. The chef invited my dad back into the kitchen so he watch the process. So, thanks to my dad and to Mr. Fong for making this all possible!

Not coincidentally, today is Chinese New Year. This is a great way to expose your kids to a little world culture and delicious food all at the same time! Last night I made the egg rolls (which were way easier than I ever imagined!) and then had a buffet of various things that I picked up from the Asian section of the grocery store. We had chopsticks, squid snacks, steamed buns, vegetable dumplings, fortune cookies (I know they’re not authentic, but they’re fun!), Chinese Chex Mix (which I’m sure has an official name, but that’s how I got my kids to try it!) and Pocky. We talked about how to use chopsticks and we talked about the year of the horse and what animal signs all my kids were. We tried learning Chinese from the back of our fortunes! It was a great family dinner, and even though the kids didn’t love everything, they had a great time.

If you don’t want to hunt down all that stuff you can always do Chinese take out, or go get a few packs of Ramen noodles, and call it good! It doesn’t have to be big to be a wonderful memory! I would try to make the egg rolls though. They totally brought me to my Canadian happy place!

Canadian Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground pork

1 small onion, diced

2 celery stalks

3/4 cup chopped cabbage

1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice

1 Tbsp Soy sauce

1 Tbsp corn starch

egg roll wrappers (I got mine in the freezer section)

1 egg, beaten

vegetable oil

Instructions:

Brown pork and onion in a wok until cooked through.

Remove the pork mixture and add 1 Tbsp oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add the celery and cabbage.

Cook the veggies until soft and then add in the pork.

Add the Chinese spice and the soy sauce.

Mix the cornstarch with 3 Tbsp of water until the cornstarch dissolves.

Add the water mixture to the meat and stir until the liquid thickens (about 5 minutes).

put in the mixture into a food processor and mix until smooth. I think this is what made it for me!

Place 3 Tbsp of the meat mixture into the middle of an egg roll wrapper.

Brush the egg along the perimeter of the wrapper.

Bring the bottom of the wrapper up over the mixture in the middle and then fold the top over the first fold, so that you’ve folded it into thirds, and the mixture is covered.

Pinch the two ends in toward the folded side by just folding over about an inch.

All your seams should be on one side. brush the seam side with oil and place the egg roll seam side down on a foil covered, greased cookie sheet.

Once you’re used all the meat mixture (my batch made 9 egg rolls), brush the tops of all the egg rolls with oil.

Place the egg rolls in a 400º oven for twenty minutes. After 10 minutes flip the egg rolls over.

Julie

Squid snack! Pocky! Chinese chex mix-That’s called Okaki in Japanese), and steamed buns! Yum! My favorites! I made pork steamed buns a while ago, and it was easy. I’m going to try your egg roll recipe! Thank you for sharing!

I just wanted to say a big Thank you. I know these are not authentic, but I too, love these very much. I am back on our wonderful Nova Scotian coast but when I was in British Columbia for many years, I too wanted nothing more than these egg rolls. This was a blessing to find. Thanks again, and kudos to your dad. His aim to please his daughter has pleased many more.

Nicole C.

Hi there. I have an important question about these eggrolls. I have been searching for a “mushy meat” recipe and tried one before… the taste was great but the texture was grainy/gritty :(… How was the texture on these? Was it the smooth mushy meat eggroll texture??? If so I will be beyond happy! Please get back to me asap. =)

Jessu

I could KISS you (and your dad) for this! I have celiac and MISS having egg rolls, especially this type (my favorite was from look ho ho in Halifax). I have been trying to crack the code on just HOW they get the smooth texture and these were bang on (though I had to keep the processor on for a WHILE to get the right texture). I have gotten a recipe for GF won ton wrappers and am making them as we speak!